Sunday, February 10, 2013

The Cuckoo (illustrated by Isabelle Melançon)

When Barbie falls asleep and enters into her dream world she discovers that her kingdom, simply called The Land (which is a part of The Dreaming), faces a horrible threat…The Cuckoo.

Barbie, along with her companions, Luz, Wilkinson and Primando travel through The Land until they are eventually captured by The Black Guard and taken to the stronghold of The Cuckoo, which resembles Barbie’s childhood home.

When Barbie enters the house she discovers that The Cuckoo looks just as she did when she was a child, down to the scar on her knee when she jumped off the roof and had to get stitches. The Cuckoo tells Barbie that she “left yourself wide open for me” and that she “was everything I needed” due to Barbie’s overactive imagination. The Cuckoo moved into Barbie’s Dreamland.

Unfortunately children grow up and as they do, according to The Cuckoo “they divide themselves up into such complex puzzles.”

The Cuckoo wants to leave The Land. She wants leave and fly thought the worlds to lay her own eggs in other young girl’s minds (sort of like the cuckoo bird will lay it's eggs in the nests of other birds and wait for them to hatch).

Barbie destroys the Porpentine and the Monolith, enabling The Cuckoo to leave. Thessaly asks Dream to kill The Cuckoo, but Dream says “Dangerous? Perhaps. But evil? She acts according to her nature. Is that evil?” In the end, Dream offers Barbie one wish and she “takes the Dorothy option” and asks to be sent home along with her friends. This frees The Cuckoo from The Land and she is last seen flying away.

Isabelle specifically asked if she could draw The Cuckoo. I really like her portrait of this character. She managed to capture the innocent look, but the eyes seem to be a bit more manipulative than the eyes of a young girl should be. I think she did a great job with The Cuckoo.

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